Saturday, 12 August 2017

I haven't posted in some time as this year has been extremely busy and lots of exciting things happening, including being long listed in the Retreat West First Chapter competition. It was the opening to my Teen Thriller, Ornithophobia, that is a current work in progress, with the first draft now nearly complete.

I've attended some fantastic writing events this year, I can thoroughly recommend SCBWI workshops and events, writing retreats and NAWGfest17, run by NAWG (National Association of Writers' Groups) and events run by Writing West Midlands.

My very exciting news this year is that I've signed with the fabulous literary agent, Laura West, of the David Higham Agency. Laura really gets my ideas, and I feel confident that this is the start of a fantastic partnership to bring many wonderful stories to life :)

Thursday, 26 January 2017

#PeerPitch has been a really fun week-long event on Twitter, organised by The Scribbers, a group of writers who met on a Curtis Brown Creative online Writing for Children course. They then went on to form their own writing group, comprising on the original 15 members from the course.

The #PeerPitch event culminated with a one day to enter 35 word pitch competition, where entrants were invited to submit their children's or YA pitches.

I am very excited to announce that I have been longlisted for not one, but three of my pitches, woohoo! Shortlist announced soon, so fingers crossed :)

Saturday, 19 November 2016

This week I ventured into London for the evening,
for the book launch of Instructions for a Second-Hand Heart by the lovely and powerhouse of a writer, Tamsyn Murray.

Just getting to Piccadilly Waterstones was an
adventure, nearly going Northbound on the tube when I wanted Southbound. On the way,
with fellow writer, Kate Wiseman, we discovered it was the premiere of
Fantastic Beasts that night at Leicester Square. We didn’t actually spot any
stars, unless you count a YouTube star who walked right past us, but we did
hear lots of screaming each time an actor or JK Rowling must have been
arriving, exciting to think we were so close to the stars!

Piccadilly Waterstones is a dream for any writer, with floor after floor full of books. So it was a perfect venur for Tamsyn's book launch. The event was packed full of lovely people of
the writing community, from writers, editors to agents, bloggers and reviewers amongst others. The
room was full of people with lots of love and respect for a brilliant writer.

The launch was for Instructions for a Second-hand
Heart, a story about Jonny and Niamh, one with a broken heart from losing a family
member, and the other, a medically broken heart and in need of a new one. Their
two stories are beautifully intertwined as their paths cross.

The book has mainly short, snappy chapters which I
loved. The writing is simply beautiful and heart-breaking, but in a good way,
with well-drawn and empathetic teenage characters.

Both main
characters take us on a journey to deal with loss and learning to live. The
book deals with sensitive issues, such as death and long term illness, but it
is handled in a delicate manner, and with a story that kept me up until the
early hours, desperate to know the fate of the characters.

It’s been a week now since I finished the book, and
I’m still thinking of Niamh and Jonny, and wishing I could still read what’s
happening with them.

You will need tissues whilst reading this book, but
the end is uplifting and full of hope. Instructions for a Second-hand Heart is
definitely a story that will move you and stay with you for a long time after
you’ve put it down.

Tamsyn treated everyone at the book launch to a
reading from chapter two of the book. If you ever have the opportunity to hear
Tamsyn read then I can thoroughly recommend it. She has a wonderful flair and
gift for public readings!

Thursday, 29 September 2016

I have an article on SCBWI's Words & Pictures magazine about a writing festival called NAWGFest16 which is part of the National Association of Writers' Groups. You can find the original article at this link:

Thursday, 22 September 2016

It's worth signing up for Kate's monthly newsletter to get some great writing and editing tips, and offers for free or reduced editorials. Keep an eye out on Twitter for #EditFoster too, where Kate shares some great tips and motivation for writers :)

Here's my piece of choosing an editor for my MG book, featured in the current newsletter...

Choosing an Editor

As
with any relationship, it’s important to make sure you’re not rushing
into something you may later regret. You don’t want to end up with the
‘wrong one’ and have your trust broken.

Trust
is an important thing when choosing an agent. You may have spent months
or years getting your story to the point it’s at now. It’s precious,
and your editor might be the first person other than you to read it. So
choosing that right editor is vital.

For
me, I spent time looking at various options, including the big
relatively faceless companies that offer a wide range of services at top
end prices. Often these are inflexible on certain matters; in
particular, they often don’t enter into further correspondence after the
edit.

Of
course, this is worst case scenario and not all were like that, but I
knew, for me, the personal touch was important, and I wanted someone who
I found friendly and approachable. So I asked around for personal
recommendations. Along with those, people wanted to share their horror
stories: the
editors who didn’t actually do a whole lot of editing, but did charge a
lot; editorials littered with spelling and grammatical errors, never a
reassuring sign; and editors who were downright rude and refused to
enter into any discussion about the editorial.

Fortunately, the doom and gloom weren’t the only stories that I heard. I had some genuine and positive ones too.

I
came across Kate’s services via a blog piece by a writer I already
followed on Twitter, who had worked with Kate and it had led to her
landing an agent. This was precisely what I hoped for. Kate was also
recommended by another writer who I spoke with online, and had also
received an editorial from Kate, and I was already following Kate on
Twitter.

I’d
come to a point with my book that I felt I’d done as much as I could by
myself. I now needed the guidance of someone with a professional eye,
but friendly and approachable attitude. I was nervous and a bit scared
to share my book. But I needn’t have been.

Kate
was so helpful and friendly, and even offered to read and edit the
first chapter before I committed to anything so we could both see if we
would be happy together, and I could get a feel for her approach. Kate
also offers payment plans, unlike a lot of places, so you can pay in
instalments. She also gave me plenty of options to ‘opt-out’ if I didn’t
feel comfortable to commit. But getting an editorial from Kate has been
one of the best choices I’ve ever made!

She
has been so helpful, thorough, engaging, friendly, answering my inane
questions and allowing me to ask about new plot ideas. The next stage
for me now is for Kate to re-read my book post-edits, also a service a
lot don’t offer.

Kate
has really put me at ease and has helped shape my book. The shaping
continues as I am editing the final chapter right now, but the end is in
sight, and Kate has helped me achieve that.

Friday, 19 August 2016

It's been a very busy time since my last post, and this article I did for SCBWI's Words & Pictures is one of the reasons why...

Thursday, 11 August 2016

Book Bound 2016 – Turning the Pages to Success...

Oxon Hoath manor house – home for the weekend!

‘You want your children’s book to be accepted by a publisher. We want to help you achieve
that.’ – The Book Bound TeamBook Bound writing retreat 17-19 th June was the second of its kind at the stunning location of
Oxon Hoath manor house in Kent. Report by Emma Finlayson-Palmer It promised to be invaluable to writers’, and it certainly
was! So much fantastic insider knowledge of publishing and agent life and practical help for
writers crammed into just one weekend. It took me over a week to fully come back down to
earth and re-join the land of non-writers in my day to day life.

There were 30 writers from across the globe at varying stages of their careers. Some were
agented, others not, some writers were winners or finalists in prestigious competitions such as
Undiscovered Voices and Chicken House. But we all had one thing in common, we had a
children’s book we were working on that would be the focus of the weekend for each of us
and the Book Bound team.

Library at Oxon Hoath

The weekend kicked off with introductions to the lovely Book Bound team, Sara Grant, Sara
O’Connor and Karen Ball. Sadly Jasmine Richards was unable to attend, though for good
reason as she’s just welcomed her second baby into the world. Between them, they have
collaborated on more than 1000 books, which have won awards and sold millions of copies
around the world, have written more than 40 children’s books, they have more than 30 years’
combined editorial experience, have extensive industry contacts and are a group of leading
professionals in the children’s book industry. The perfect team to help us writers navigate the
journey through unchartered territory.​

Resources

Later that evening I had my one-to-one with Sara Grant, author of hugely successful series
such as Magic Trix and Chasing Danger, who provided brilliant feedback on my book, with
lots of ideas on how to get it ready for submission.

Editing my book under Sara Grant’s guidance

Keynote speaker on Saturday morning was Sarah Odedina of Pushkin Press. She gave us
some great advice and insight into her daily work life and books she has published, with a
strong focus on historical fiction for children.​

Me enjoying Sarah Odedina’s talk, photo by Melissa Valente.

Book
Bound helps to provide writers with the tools and advice to rework
their manuscripts and hopefully be successfully placed with an agent and
publisher. The weekend comprised of intensive writing workshops giving
fantastic and practical tips on editing and getting your writing into a
cohesive structure.

There
was a craft related collage table for writers to get some ideas for
their books. Great for getting creative and generating ideas and visuals
for stories, and another area where writers could chat and get to know
one another.

Collaging my book

We had the opportunity to learn how to pitch our books, and were lucky enough to put these
into practice after a multi-agent panel with Penny Holroyde of Holroyde Cartey, Jenny Savill
of Andrew Nurnberg Associates, Amber Caraveo of Skylark Literary Agency and Sallyanne
Sweeney of Mulcahy Associates. The agents discussed a wide range of topics including some
of their favourite books and what they’d like to see more of in their inbox, and some great
tips for writers hoping to submit their work. I must mention the food at Oxon Hoath, it was exquisite! Grown and prepared on site, freshly
sourced and mainly from the manor’s garden. There was also a well-stocked bar to keep
writers refreshed whilst overlooking the stunning grounds of the manor.

I’ve made some lovely and supportive new friends, who I will be keeping in touch with. The
sort of support network offered to Book Bounders is invaluable. I can’t finish without a
special mention for Sara Grant and her Oscar worthy performance of an author behaving
badly! A hugely entertaining way to start out last day of the retreat, and one that will leave me
with many happy memories.​

Oxon Hoath grounds

Book Bound was an amazing and life changing experience for me, and I can thoroughly
recommend any event organised by the lovely Book Bound team.

Bound Bounders 2016, photo courtesy of Melissa Valente​

@FinlaysonPalmer

Emma Finlayson-Palmer has won numerous short story competitions, has had stories
published in magazines such as Anorak magazine for children, written two MG novels,
started many more and is mother to a multitude. She is also the host of #ukteenchat on
Twitter, a chat for writers of children’s fiction. A SCBWI member since 2014, based in the
West Midlands and currently working on a book for 5-8 year olds and being mentored by
Tamsyn Murray.